![]() The nation's largest green builder, Turner Construction of New York City, helped form the building council in the 1990s and held a board seat for most of the past decade. Green design generates another $4 billion a year for architects and engineers. Largely as a result of LEED, green construction has soared from $3 billion in 2005 to $58 billion in 2011 and will reach $122 billion in 2015, according to researcher McGraw-Hill. LEED has grown more stringent since its launch in 2000, imposing tougher water- and energy-conservation requirements. Once we had some traction, then we could start ratcheting up the standards." "Our job in the first couple of years was to make friends in the industry with something that was sufficiently aggressive and sufficiently comfortable to do. "LEED had to save energy and save water, but it also had to make money," he said. Watson, now a consultant, doesn't fault the council for its caution. You can't have a failing economy and pretend that the environment won't suffer." Treasurer Lisa Shpritz is a senior vice president at Bank of America, the nation's second-largest bank.Ĭouncil Senior Vice President Scot Horst said responsible growth must consider both the environment and the economy: "Our goal is to have a healthy economy. Board Secretary Punit Jain works for international architects and engineers Cannon Design. Board Chairwoman Elizabeth Heider is an executive at global construction firm Skanska. The council has attracted top building-industry firms. "The whole game has changed because of our inclusiveness." "There are more businesses engaged in the business/environmental movement than there ever would have been," building council CEO Rick Fedrizzi said. There are 13,500 LEED-certified commercial buildings in the U.S., and another 30,000 have applied for LEED approval. LEED has won wide acceptance among people who plan, design and construct buildings as a way to win environmental approval and boost profit. The building industry's influence over LEED, while raising some concerns, also has propelled LEED's dramatic growth across the U.S. I don't think many people understand that," said John Wargo, a Yale University environmental health professor. "You've got the building industry playing a strong role in setting these standards that are then being adopted as law. The board didn't have a public-health specialist until 2010 - 17 years after it formed - though LEED encourages the design of buildings that protect occupants' health. Only 100 voting members of the council - about 1% - are environmental non-profits. Businesses have given the council tens of millions of dollars the past decade in both membership dues and donations, council records show.īy contrast, the council's board has just one person who works for an environmental advocacy group. Eighteen of the board's 20 voting members are officials at for-profit firms. Business interests make up 89% of the council's voting membership, according to a USA TODAY analysis of council records, and include 91 Fortune 500 companies such as McDonald's, PepsiCo, DuPont and Alcoa.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |